The China Basin-Scale Water Use Efficiency Dataset (CBS-WUE), 2002–2021, 500 m Resolution, Annual and Seasonal

This dataset provides annual and seasonal water use efficiency (WUE) estimates at the basin scale across China from 2002 to 2021. WUE is calculated as the ratio of gross primary production (GPP) to evapotranspiration (ET), with both GPP and ET derived from MODIS remotely sensed vegetation and meteorological data. The dataset contains spatially explicit raster files at 500 m resolution for 25 major Chinese river basins. Annual WUE values are computed as averages over all months (January to December) of each year, while seasonal WUE values are derived from three-month averages for spring (March–May), summer (June–August), autumn (September–November), and winter (December–February).